RES-H statistics - European Renewable Energy Council

Chapter Four – Biomass

Chapter Four – Biomass - Best available statisticsand we can assume that biomass for heat is obtained by taking the biomass primaryproduction and by deducing the biomass for electricity and liquid biofuels.Biomass for cogeneration is not included as it is part of the biomass for electricity figures.This generates confusion as bioheat will be included in the framework of biomass forelectricity statistics.C International Energy AgencyIEA statistics are given for some member states, as gross heat production, for heat only orCHP applications and for each of these with three categories: municipal solid wasterenewable, solid biomass, biogas.In the principles used for statistical collection IEA admits that the division into renewableand non renewable municipal waste is often based on estimates and national data are ofbad quality in this respect. To the same extend data sources for non commercial biomassare not complete.For many countries it was found that IEA statistics for heat are far below the statisticsprovided by Eurostat. Maybe this is due to the terminology that is not similar as forEurostat. Gross heat is mentioned but without a clear definition (at least for AEBIOM).Does gross heat mean biomass (or fuels) for heat purposes?D EurObservEr – Wood energyThese statistics are given for EU15 and Poland. They consider wood energy as primaryenergy source. The distinction between electricity and heat is only globally mentioned(83,4% for heat and the rest for electricity). This is a main constraint as the various woodroutes have a strong impact on the final energy, and particularly heat. Therefore the globalfigure of wood consumption cannot be used at all to evaluate biomass for heat.In addition, sources of information remain hard to find.E EurObservEr – BiogasTheses figures are given for crude biogas and final heat production (bioheat).Bioheat figures can be used in the framework of this project, taking into account that thisfigure cannot be assimilated with the biomass for heat figures.F Other sourcesFor some countries national detailed statistics are available (Germany, Austria, Swedenfor example). Associations dealing with specific bioenergy areas (biogas, pellets, boilers,district heating, cogeneration, etc.) do also have statistics for a part of the bioheat market.(for details please refer to the detailed report from AEBIOM in deliverable D2).The statistics at EU level are giving a broad image of the biomass for heat picture.However aggregated data are extremely difficult to compare and to comment. Therefore14

Chapter Four – Biomass - Best available statisticsnational sources of statistics are needed that are focussed on specific bioenergy areas(biogas, pellets, boilers, district heating, cogeneration, etc.).1.2 ConclusionsAEBIOM faced a lot of difficulties to treat and compare the various sources of statistics.Establishing reliable statistics for the biomass sector is definitely not an easy task. Figuresfrom different sources are often hardly comparable because of different categories ofbiomass and classification systems. For some countries however (Austria, Germany,Finland and Sweden) statistics from several agencies or associations are sufficient toreach a reliable estimation.The main deficits are: The data are generally not complete for all sectors and sub-sectors. The global figuresfor all biomass for heat are vague, probably reached through broad assumptions, andcannot be considered as reliable. The figures for biomass for heat, electricity and/orcogeneration sometimes are not documented with the required differentiations. The data do not refer to the same type of biomass (waste included or not) The data are not classified the same way. Sometimes the primary criteria is the type ofbiofuel - forest wood chips, industrial wood waste, etc. Sometimes it is the type of use -households, collective, industries, etc. The terms are not defined clearly (what gross heat production means in IEA statistics?) MSW incineration has a large potential and is an increasing source. Main difficulty is thedetermination of the renewable fraction of the energy content of MSW. A major source of renewable heat is combustion of wood in private households. But thestatistics for this source are poor and a lot of wood is combusted with a low efficiency.2 Compilation of best available statistics for EU 25As explained above the collection of data on biomass for heat is not easy. An attempt ofsummary is given below for the year 2004. Here AEBIOM takes the best available figuresout of the tables for each country.The table is a result of some Eurostat and various othersources. For some countries medium and large scale is underestimated because of thelack of data (only district heating is available with Eurostat).15